While Prime Minister Robert Fico is suing daily Sme over a cartoon, his Smer party is using cartoons in its political fight, the Sme daily reported.
On its webpage, Smer features cartoons, mainly, mocking its political competitor, the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU), as well as Slovak journalists. One of the cartoons depicted a man on a wheelchair, who was being told by his doctor ‘You will not get your pension, because you are driving wheels.’ Fico ordered the cartoon to be removed after he found out that it was published on the website, the Smer spokesperson Katarína Kližanová-Rýsová told Sme.
The cartoon was parody for the SDKU decision to reduce the list of people eligible for disability pension.
On the other hand, Sme wrote, Fico is suing the newspaper for a cartoon, which features him visiting a physician with neck spine pain and being told that he must have phantom pains since he does not have a spine. According to his words, Fico objected that the cartoon was making fun of his health condition.
The author of the Smer cartoons is Milan Vavro, onetime fan of Vladimír Mečiar, who was drawing cartoons for the Mečiar-friendly dailies Nový Deň or Slovenská Republika, Sme wrote.
Compiled by Michaela Stanková from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
